Apparatus for displaying garments



Ni VVEISE]? APPARATUS FOR DISPLAYING GARMENTS Filed Jan. 29, 1952 ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 6, 1953 UNITED STATES QF'FKIE 2,654,512 APPARATUS. FOR DISPLAYING GARMENTS- Mor!: S;WQ Sel,.B QQklYm N. 2. Application January 29, 1952,]SerialNo. 268,855 4 claims. (01. 223-68) This invention generally relates to devices for displaying garments and more specifically to a. flexible and inexpensive spreader for holding out the skirts of dresses to enable the public toobtain'a better view of the design of the dress and the fabric from which it ismade.

The problem of how to best display a dress so that the; public will be attracted to the garment and will be able to examine it better was aided by the. invention of the dress stand and the socalled T stand on which the dress could be supported in order to. be seen. These stands have many drawbacks, not the least of which is the fact that the lower portion of the dress hangs limply-about the supporting rod, and presents a very unattractive appearance. In; the dress stand, the upper portion of the dress is usually shaped by the use of the bust form, but in general the lower or skirt portion has been ignored and no good method of displaying this part of the garment has been developed. In practice, some window dressers use tissue, bags, strips of cardboard, or boxes, to hold out the skirt, which devices have at best been extremely crude, not capable of much flexibility, and quite time-consuming in their application.

It is then an object of this invention to discover an apparatus which will adequately hold out or spread the skirt of a dress so that it will present the most attractive appearance to those who view it. It is a further object to develop an apparatus which will be fully flexible to suit the widely variant esthetic tastes of those who are preparing the garments for display. It is a further object to develop a dress display device which will be snag-proof so as not to damage the garment on which it is used. It is yet another object that the device be extremely inexpensive, simple in use, and easily stored in as small a space as possible. These and other objects will appear as this specification proceeds.

In summary, this invention proposes to attain these objects by providing a flat section of stiff but flexible material such as buckram, so designed as to fit under the forward or front part of the skirt of the garment being displayed, and containing a bendable rod in its lowermost edge, the rod being adjustable to suit the requirements of the user.

Reference is not made to the drawings for a specific embodiment of the invention. This description is intended to be illustrative only, and is not to be deemed limiting, as the scope of the invention should be determined from the appended claims, and their disclosed equivalents.

In the drawings:

' Figure i is a front elevation of the skirt spreader.

Figure-2 isa sideelevation of a section through Figure l.

Figure 3 is a view of the flexible rod used to shape the skirt of Figure I.

Figure 4 is a View of the rod of Figure 5 in bent condition.

- Figure 5 shows the skirt spreader androd in place on a dress stand.

Figures 6, 7 and 8' are" top plan views of the dress figure of Figure 5 showing the bendable rod in three difierent shapes.

More particularly in the drawings, the skirt spreader is designated generally by the numeral H. It is a section |-5 of stiff, but flexible material, such as buckram, shaped substantially as shown in Figure 1. There is a hem sewed around each edge, for instance, hem M in edge 4|. The upper edge I 3 of the material is slightly curved to fit smoothly and straight along the waist of a mannikin. In order to hold it in place on a mannikin, there is provided an elastic band |8, the hook IQ of which fits in eye 20. The lower edge It of the section l5 has a large hem H which is designed to carry the bendable rod 2|.

Figures 3 and 4 show various views of the bendable rod 2|. It is made of thin but flexible steel or similar material and has its both tips protected by a plastic coating. Tip 22 is shown with coating 23 and tip 24 with coating 25. The coating prevents catching in the hem or channel |1 when inserting.

Figure 5 shows a typical application of this device. A bust form 30 is mounted on stand 3| with supporting base 32. This is the usual stand used widely in stores for dress display. An inex pensive dress, housedress, etc. will hang limply about the stand 3| with a resulting poor appearance. The dress spreader II is attached to the waist of the mannikin to give it a flared appearance and is held in this shape by rod 2|. The are of the skirt spreader is so designed that it does not go completely around the dress form but only proceeds part way. With the back thus left open, the dress form may be pushed tight against a wall without distorting the flared appearance gained by skirt spreader Figures 6, 7 and 8 show three of the various possibilities for shaping the flare of the skirt. The mannikin is designated with the numeral 50. In Figure 6, the dress is shown as close to the body, which effect is achieved by pulling downward at the bottom of the skirt spreader. To cause the dress to stand away from the body, just pull front of waistline upwards. Figure 7 shows What is thus described is a dress display de-" vice comprising only two parts and which is fully adjustable for width and fullness, for long and short styles and is equally as useful for dresses, skirts, and coats. In addition it has the following attributes: v p

1. It is extremely easy to put on and take ofi.

mannikin.

3. It can be used with equal facility on mannikin, bust form on stand, or on the wall or floor.

4. It permits the user to make an indefinite number of bouffants.

I claim:

1. A garment display device for attaching to a garment display form comprising a section of thin flexible but stiff material, the dimensions being such that the lengtlrof the section is approximately equal to that of the garment skirt being displayed, the top width of the section is shorter than the waist of the said garment, the bottom length is sufiicient to form an arc across the front of the said garment and to extend partially across the back, an elastic band and an eye therefor attached to the edge of the top width of the section for attaching the device 2. It does not consume valuable space behind to the waist of the form, a channel at the bottom of the material, and a bendable rod in the channel, said rod being bendable into varying shapes and capable of retaining the thus formed shape so as to form the garment display device into a shape identical thereto.

2. A garment display device according to claim 1, wherein the bendable rod has coated tips for easy insertion into the channel.

3. A device according to claim 1, wherein the bendable rod is formed into the shape of a series of ridges thus creating the same shape for the garment display device so as to cause the garment displayed thereon to fall into a series of 'bouffants.

4. A garment display device comprising an elongated body portion of flexible but stiff material arranged to be used in a vertical position and adapted to have a garment displayed on its front side, means for attaching the device to a supporting stand, a hem in the lower edge of the body portion, and a bendable rod in the said hem, the rod being capable of being bent into varying shapes and capable of retaining the thus formed.

shape so as to form the garment display device into a shape identical thereto.

' MORRIS WEISER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Cohen Sept. 16, 1941 

